To plug into what other local hospices are doing in providing for the physical and emotional needs of the terminally ill, a Columbia-based hospice is opening a satellite office in Orangeburg.

The public is invited to the grand opening for Hospice Care of Tri-county in Orangeburg from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 15, at 1681Chestnut Street.

The hospice serves Orangeburg, Bamberg, Calhoun and Barnwell counties, and its Orangeburg office will also serve a portion of Aiken County, "We came here in June 2005 and moved to this office in January.

The Columbia office was getting referrals from Charleston doctors for patients in this area, and so there was a need to be closer to the patient," Hospice of Tri-County Director Marsha Bolin said.

While the office hours will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, Bolin said services are essentially available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for patients either at home or in an inpatient facility.

The office staff includes registered nurse/case manager workers, a social worker, certified nursing assistants, a volunteer coordinator, a chaplain, a community education coordinator and an administrative licensed practical nurse.

Registered nurses serve as case managers. In their dual role, they help tend to the social, emotional and physical needs of patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"I basically go into the home and do palliative care to make sure the patients are comfortable and living what time they have left to the fullest," said Dianne Jamison, a nurse/case manager. "A lot of patients that we've found are in pain needlessly, and I try to get that pain managed so that they're up and about as much as possible."

Jamison said she is also available when hospice patients' family members simply need to talk and assists in working with the office's compound pharmacist to make sure patients are placed on appropriate medications.

"We have a compound pharmacy that helps to compound medications that we've found help control certain symptoms in patients. We have one in Columbia and Orangeburg. They help us to figure out the right medication that we need for patients," Jamison said.

"We do serve indigent patients who don't have any kind of insurance and can't afford the services. We provide those services for free," Bolin said,

Hospice Care of Tri-County also pays for prescriptions "that are related to the diagnosis that we're serving the patients for," along with respite care services which Medicare and Medicaid sometimes won't cover, she said.

"We also provide the medical equipment and supplies that are needed by the patient," Bolin said.

Certified nursing assistants visit patients five days a week to do personal, including homemaking, services. A coordinator handles volunteers, who do everything from sitting with patients when their caregiver is out to running errands.

Social worker Mary Berry said conducting psychosocial assessments and helping families work through the grieving process are among her duties.

"I assist with community resources caregivers may need and make referrals to those agencies. I get in place all the paperwork, including advance directives with the healthcare power of attorney, and talk about living wills. I attend funerals and give insight for medications or nursing home placement," Berry said.

The Orangeburg County Department of Social Services, Community Long Term Care of Orangeburg County, home health agencies, hospitals, doctors and other social workers are all among the other health care professionals and sites with whom Berry networks.

While the office also provides bereavement services in following the caregiver for up to 13 months after a patient dies, administrative licensed practical nurse Denean Carson said hospice care is more about living than dying.

"Hospice is to help the patient live a comfortable quality of life. We're more about giving them what they need to be able to do what they can for as long as they can without having to worry about being sick. It's about living, not dying," she said.

"We've had patients that have actually come off of hospice care because they improve once our nurses and aides get in there and provide that quality care," Bolin said.

"We'd just like to get the community involved," says Linda Hudson, community education coordinator. "Our main concern is getting help for the people here in this community. There are so many people that don't know this service exists and the resources that are available to them."

Office staff members and student volunteers from Claflin University are already reaching into the community with an upcoming visit to the Pecan Grove elderly housing community for games of bingo on May 23.

The office also conducts educational seminars in churches and nursing homes on topics ranging from how to manage pain to understanding the federal government's massive Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan. A health fair for hospice patients has been conducted, an HIV/AIDS prevention program has been set up, and there are also plans for a cancer patient tea.

The patients will be provided free wigs and lessons on makeup application and nail care during the free event, which has not yet been scheduled.

For more information on Hospice Care of Tri-County, individuals can call the office at 803-533-0537.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534.

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